An upcoming software development conference will draw some of the top names in the industry to Pittsburgh, yet another sign of the region’s significance in the tech community.

The first-ever Abstractions conference will be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in August. It’s being organized by local developer group Code & Supply, and has a lineup of more than two dozen developers across disciplines, including Larry Wall, inventor of the Perl programming language, Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, Allison Randal, president of the Open Source Initiative, and Raffi Krikorian, engineering lead at Uber‘s Pittsburgh-based Advanced Technology Center.

“Abstractions is happening at a critical time in Pittsburgh’s development as a software epicenter,” says Code & Supply founder Justin Reese. “With recognition in media and investment by major software companies like Google, Facebook, Uber and Apple, now is the time to bring in software developers from around the world to see.”

Courtesy Code + Supply

The two-year-old Code & Supply organizes social and training events for Pittsburgh’s tech community, ranging from beginner level intro courses to advanced programming. Its mission is to “teach the skills to become better software professionals,” as its website states.

“I want Pittsburgh to be recognized as a national center for software development,” Reese says. “Code & Supply has brought together the Pittsburgh software community and now we will show the world through Abstractions how welcoming and eager that community is.”

The Abstractions speakers will represent people working in development, design, community and leadership. Tickets are $250, and some scholarships are available for those who want to attend.

About The Author

Kim Lyons is an award-winning writer and editor who spends way too much time on Twitter. Her experience includes crime, features and business reporting, and she has a huge crush on Pittsburgh. She was a 2015 Kiplinger Fellow in Public Affairs Journalism at the Ohio State University, and is a founding member of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Online News Association.